July i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



51 



a vegetable wax, used in the coloriug of cloth. 

 The Report conclutles by imLl, ng out the importance 

 of an extended cultivatio i of caoutchouc-yielding 

 plants, now that the price of cinchona barlf his so 

 decreased and the cofl'ee crops have fallen off ti 

 such an extent. The writer points out th<at there i& 

 no fear of over-production, as in the case of quinine, 

 the uses to which caoutchouc can be put being 

 almost endless. He calls upon the Government to 

 send a botanist to South America to pr.icnre plants 

 and seeds of the best varieties ; while at the same 

 time there should bo a tlioroui;h invcsUgition into 

 the varieties growing in the Dutch East Indies, es- 

 pecially Borneo. So far Mr. Berkhout's P^eport, and 

 the reviewer concludes his remarks by pointing nut 

 the difference between caoutchouc and guttapercha, 

 which two substances are popularly confounded to- 

 gether, though entirely distinct in origin, chemical 

 composition and uses. His final words are : — "If, 

 however, the reader wishes to get further inform- 

 ation on this subject he should buy the following " — 

 and then come the entire title and list of contents of the 

 book on iiidiarubber and guttapercha compiled and 

 published by us. For this gratia advertisement and 

 testimonial to the value of our publication we tender 

 our thanks to the anonymous writer. 



COFFEE AND LEAF DISEASE IN CEYLON. 



Guided by the experience of the last two years, 

 I have all along assumed tliat coffee is doomed, 

 that "leroi est mort," and that tea everywhere is 

 taking its place. But we read this year of a wonder- 

 ful revival of coffee in all Uva. What docs 

 this mean ?. Is it likely to last ? Their last year's 

 season must have been more than usually pro- 

 pitious, and the great depth of eoil in Badulla 

 enables the coffee to send down its roots to depths 

 far-below the deepest diving grub. But whut 

 about leaf-disease ? Let us see. Dr. Thwaites 

 asserted that " le.af-diaojse would last as long as 

 there was coffee to nouiish it." Tl,e fisjht then 

 is between the two, and to judge of the future we 

 must look at the jjast. Has the fungus asierted 

 its supremacy in the past iu such a degree as to 

 make us fear — henritifi Dr. T/iwaitess dictum in mind 

 —that it wUl finady triumph everywhere ? Or 

 are there some favoured spots where coffee and 

 fungus have arrived at a sort of equdibrium, one 

 making up its strength, as the other perioiically 

 falls off, and vU-e versa ? This teems to be the 

 condition of things in Uva just no it. But as the 

 fungus has even there brought crops down from, say, 7 

 c«t. an acre to 2 cwt., it has, so far, proved 

 Its hautful power over c .ffce. Having thus reduced 

 coflee from its previous state of vigor, is it likely that 

 cotfeo can now— in its wtakened coudit on— resist 

 and survive, 80 long as the fungus exists and attacks ? 

 If it can, then must it ne^essaiily be in consequence 

 of some falling-of virulence iu the fungus itself 

 —a happy omen for the many patches of good coffee 

 stdl existing a'l over the country. But I fear 

 this IS _ not a reasonable expectation. If it has 

 taken fifteen years to reduce coffee from its best 

 cuuditiou to a mean crop of 2 cwt. an acre, how 

 long will it take to lini,h it off from 2 cwt, an 

 acio to nothing ? 



Since the "fifties" too, and before the end of the 

 ' eighties," the island will haTo passed through two 

 great extremes, t.s-ting in the one the sweets of pro- 

 sperity, and in the other the drees of misfortune. To 

 the credit of the good old coffee days must be ascribed 

 the material advantages the country now enjoys in 

 railways, roads, bridges, &c., and also the stdl un- 

 exhausted wealth iu native hands, and the many civilizing 



institutions within their reach. Europeans reaped a 

 rich harvest also, but with few exceptions these 

 disappeared from the scene. So that the residue of 

 former prosperity is chietly now seen in material 

 improvements, and amongst the natives. — Old Planter. 



Venezuela : its Climate a.xd Pkoditcts.— There are 

 three zones, three climates, within the limitsofVenf zuela, 

 from cold too intense to bo endured by man, to the 

 greatest degree of heat known on the earth's surface. 

 The Alpine zone lies to the west among the snow 

 clad summits of the Andes, where are plains swept 

 by blasts which chill the blood. The next zone is from 

 from 5,U00 to S.UOU feet above the sea, covered with 

 forests of timber and uutritiou.s glasses. The third 

 zone is the tropical, where fiuitsof all sorts are pro- 

 duced in the greatest aluudauce. The Venezuelans 

 claim that theirs is the only land where cofl'ee and 

 corn, sugar and apples, bananas and wheat grow in 

 the same soil. — A/ncrican Grocer. 



Diamonds and Gold in Madagascau !— ,So runs the 

 news iu a private letter from Antananarivo published in a 

 Gape newspaper. But the difficulty is to get at these preci- 

 ous gems. The law of the country .>;ays twenty years 

 in chains against the digging miu.ials. The writer describes 

 »he country as really marvellously rich in diamonds, 

 gold, .silver, copper, lead, tin, graphite, and specimens of 

 ruby and sapphire. But lie complains that he has utterly 

 failed in getting a concession out of the Hova Government. 

 This iuformatiuii may be especi.ally commended to the 

 attention of a gentleman at present doing duty as a war 

 correspondent in tlio Soudan. He was successful in get- 

 ting a concession for sugar plautatious in Madagascar from 

 the JIalagasy envoys when they were in this country, 

 and ought to be al)le to .secure a digging concession for 

 an English couipaMy.— /•«« Mall lUuhjet. 



The Dimbui.a Association on Tea Cultivation.— 

 We call attention to the Report of a SubCummiltee 

 of the Uimbula Planters' Association, given en page 66. 

 as a mcdel of the good and useful work which all 

 District Associations might set themselves to do with 

 more or less success. The intei change of the results of 

 experience, obsfTvation or even reading iu this way is 

 calculated to be of very great s?rvice in connection wiih 

 our new industrief, both in supplying the information 

 most in request with young planters and in dealing 

 with the vari.>us disputed pomti const'intly raised 

 about the treatment of new products. What is said, 

 about tea in the pre-icnt report may be open to 

 criticism on some points ; but no one can dispute 

 the general advantage of bringing together a vaiiely 

 of opinions in this way. We may refer to the report iu 

 an early issue. 



Cinchona Alkaloids.— We are glad to learn that 

 the Madras Government has directed a new departure 

 in the matter of cinchona alkaloids. Mr. Hooper, 

 the quiuologist to that Government, has found that 

 the Madras Medical Store Depot possesses a laboratory 

 with appliances tli.at can readily be adopted to the 

 manufacture of liquid cinchona on a large scale, and 

 he has accordingly obtained permission to manufacture 

 liquid extract ot cinchona alkaloids to the extent of 

 1,000 lb. . . , At all events tho cxppriiiKiit is 

 a most valuable one, and if it succeeds must necess- 

 arily give an euorinons impetus to the cultivation 

 of cinchona for it will supply a local market foj 

 the bark, thus doing away with all charges for home 

 export, agent's commission, etc., &c. Mr. (Jrant Duff' 

 certainly deserves commendation for the persevering 

 manner iu which ho has puBbed on the question of 

 practicability of the local iiianufaeture of cinchona 

 alkaloids, and if Mr. Hooper's anticipations are real- 

 ized, a grand future of priiS[)erity will be ojiencd 

 to the Wyuaad plantors, who have been sorely trieil 

 since coffee began to full — 'yimct of Imlla, . 



